It is often desirable to sample a fluid in a container. While containers often include valves or other simple mechanisms for accessing the fluids, these simple mechanisms do not allow for maintaining the fluids and/or the interiors of the containers in aseptic or otherwise controlled conditions.
Furthermore, while more complex mechanisms are known in the art which allow for accessing the fluids while maintaining the controlled conditions, these mechanisms require substantial machining of the containers, including, in some cases, the creation of additional openings in the containers. One such mechanism, for example, involves creating an additional opening in the container, welding a fitting over the opening, and installing a septum in the fitting so that thereafter the fluid can be accessed by using a needle to penetrate the septum. It will be appreciated that such additional machining is undesirably laborious and time-consuming, and that the additional openings undesirably provide additional points through which the controlled conditions may be compromised.
Due to these and other problems and limitations, an improved device and method is needed for accessing fluid in a container.